Mustang Eyes
by neverlate
Summary: This is Jake's chance to tell his side of the story, throguh the series and beyond. What was he thinking when Sam was hurt, and throughout the book? I'll just let him tell you. Rated T because I'm cautious.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: The Phantom Stallion does not belong to me, but I sure as darned wish that it did.

I always had told her that I had mustang eyes, that that was the reason why I was so easily able to communicate with the horses that her dad let me help gentle. She was so young that I didn't like to have her tag along sometimes, but in a way, it was nice to have someone to admire me and look up to me, since I was the youngest one in my family. She looked up to me like I was some sort of mystical being, or maybe like an older brother who could do no wrong.

Seeing as I was stuck with a tagalong who thought that I could do no wrong I thought to myself, "What better way to show her how cool and fun I am than by showing her how awesome what I've learned to do is." With that thought in mind I decided that she should learn how to gentle the horses in the same way that I did. Turns out that Wyatt had gifted her a young newborn foal, and I thought, why not. It was going great, she used every one of the tricks that I taught her: giving him a secret name, letting him memorize her scent a know it as that of his partner, giving him a secret name. I have to hand it to her, she did as I said without question. Heck, even I didn't know that horses secret name. They had a bond the likes of which I had never seen before, and I envied her, because I knew that she had done something that I could only ever attempt, she'd made that horse hers in any and every way that she could, and that he'd die for her.

I'll never forget the first time that he wore a halter, she'd waited for months for that day. She made that halter out of some red flannel that looked amazing up against blackies muzzle and was the perfect starter halter for any horse. I've never seen someone so proud in my life. That was the beginning of the days where she wanted nothing more than to ride him, to ride her perfect stallion for the very first time and glory in the feeling of finally being one with HER horse. Watching them was one of the most special things that I have ever seen in my life, and I knew that no matter what that horse would always be hers.

"Then came that fateful day, it will always be in my mind as one of the worst days of my life. She was riding him for the first time, and it was like poetry in motion to watch them together. It was all going so well, what could have possibly gone wrong? He was behaving SO well after she started riding, that I thought they'd be fine taking a short ride out to the fields. I stayed close enough to her that I may as well have been ponying her. When we rode out it worked like the magic that it was, they were the perfect pair, but then tragedy struck. We were riding back, and they were going so well that I guess that I just decided to push the limits just a little bit, and I'll never forgive myself for what happened next. On the way out I had cautiously made sure that I was the one who was opening the gates and closing them again, on the way back I thought that Sam should try just once to open the gate, I mean what could go wrong? What a mistake that was. She was trying hard to do as I said, but it was just to soon, he just kept shying away from the gate. She begged me and told me that it was too soon, and I still curse my stubborn pride that didn't let it go. I just had to keep pushing it, and just like she said it was too soon. Somehow when he was shying away from the gate, it closed on him, and he panicked. For the first time in his life Sam's perfect horse acted up, and he started to buck. She fell off, and in his panic, he ran, and in running away he grazed her head with his hoof. She had fallen, and there was no way that she was going to wake up from this one, this wasn't a normal fall. She was alive, I made sure of that, but what should I do from there? I had no idea… I mean what are you supposed to do in a situation like that? I knew that I shouldn't touch her, just in case she'd sustained an injury, but she needed help, and ONLY I could get it for her, but I couldn't leave her. What a case for the professionals, and here I was, a young boy faced with this decision./p  
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	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry that it took so long to update this story. To I apologize to anyone who might be actually reading this. If you are please review, because I would love to hear your opinions on what I have written. - Neverlate**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Phantome Stallion, but I do love the book, Jake in particular. (swoon)**

 **Enjoy, and Please review!**

Though the decision was a hard one to make I knew that the danger of leaving her there was nothing to the danger that she faced if I didn't move her the right way. I left her, and the whole ride back I continued to doubt whether I had made the right decision or not. I battled with myself the whole way there, all the while riding at break neck speeds that could have killed me if I had fallen. That was my friend lying there and it was all my fault that she was hurt.

No relief I have ever felt in my life up to this time could come even close to the relief I felt when I saw the ranch buildings of the River Bend Ranch. It was as if a weight fell off my shoulders, but that didn't make me even pause, because at the back of my mind was the constant realization that I needed to get Sam help. The fuss that I made when I came running into the ranch yard as if I were being chased by the forces of hell attracted all of the attention that it should have, and when the realized what had happened… well, words can't even begin to describe the fuss. While Gram called the hospital to get an ambulance out to the ranch, Wyatt ran to his horse and rushed to the place where he knew his daughter lay, wounded, and for all he knew about ready to die, just as his wife had done only a few years before. He barely spared me a glance as he ordered me on the run to stay there, take care of my horse, and to show the ambulance where to go. How I got through those hours I'll never know, I had hurt her, maybe beyond repair, what would I do if she died? The questions and accusations rolled around in my head, and I knew one thing, that if God gave me a second chance, if He let her live, then I would do my absolute best to ensure that she was never hurt again, if there was any way that I could prevent if.

When the ambulance showed up I took them out to where I had left her, and it was every bit as bad as I had thought, she still hadn't woken up, and that was really bad, like I didn't even know how bad. They rushed her off, and in the rush to get her attention, I was forgotten, but at that time that was the best thing that they could have done for me. I went home, and I vowed that never again would I be that stupid. Mom kept up contact with the Fosters and relayed any information to me. I wasn't allowed in the room, and that was fine with me, because what would I have done there? She woke up within 24 hours, but the doctors were worried about the injury, and they said that she should be kept closer to a hospital just in case there were any complications of the injury, so they sent her away. They sent my friend away, and I didn't even get a chance to say good-bye. I guess I thought that there was no way that they could possibly trust me after what had happened, and I guess that was because I didn't trust me anymore.

For a long time after that I didn't visit the ranch. I kept to home and the work there, partly because I didn't trust myself to work with horses again after what had happened, and partially because if I was there they talked about Sam, and I just wasn't ready. Wyatt lured me in though, he just kept talking about the horses, and the help that he needed, and we finally struck up an arrangement, if I could tame one, a real wild one, and make it completely gentle, then he and I would go into a partnership of training horses for other people, and the profit would be split fifty/fifty half for him, and half for my college fund. Who could resist? That was when he brought home Ace. Ace was little, but Ace was tough, and he wasn't taking anything form anybody. He was smart too, and very endearing when you got to know him, and he settled down.

Working with Ace was the tonic that I needed, what I needed to prove to myself that I could do what I set out to do. It wasn't easy, but I did it, and he became the best cow pony that we owned, we because he always had a place in my heart, not that I would ever tell anyone else. One horse after another I tamed, and that helped heal the past. There were other changes that happened during those years too, but they had more to do with the country around us than with us in general.

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	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not Own the Phantom Stallion, but a girl's gotta dream. Thank you to anyone reading this story, I can't thank you enough for the confidence boost you have given me about my writing ability. I will try to keep updating as often as possible. THank you especailly to thos who have reviewed my work, and to anyone who has followed me thus far. Please keep reviewing, and let me know how I'm doing, and what your opinions are.- Neverlate**

The changes that took place in the area were huge. There was a drought, and many of the families just couldn't keep style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanSome of the land became more valuable, and in many of these cases the families who owned the land sol it. Others just couldn't make the year out and had to sell their places just to keep their family together. The Kenworthy's place was sold to a hot shot newcomer who kept the dad on as foreman. Linc Slocum was a weasel if I had ever seen one, and I knew that from the start. The first time I saw that man I knew that he was a slimy little skunk. I don't know why I felt that way, but I did, and that was that.

One of the good things that happened in my life, throughout all of this chaos was that I ended up finding out that I had a strangely developed tracking ability. It was as if I just knew what whatever I was following was going to do next. The police heard of this ability, and I even got to work with them sometimes, nothing big, but well, a man has his pride. The other strange thing that happened is that the Phantom showed up again. There was a legend that there was a phantom horse that kept the wild horses of the mountains safe from humans. It was insane, and many of us didn't believe the myth, but like Wyatt said there had always been and albino mustang of some sort who showed up every few years, not the dame horse mind you, but that was all a legend needed to stay alive, Just one horse. This one was a beauty, and he'd sure attracted a lot of attention, not all of which he needed. Why is this important, well that is a long story?

Soon after the first sighting of the Phantom Linc decided that he had to have that horse. He tracked him down with trucks trying to run him into the dirt, and he almost succeeded. He got one of his men to lasso the Phantom from the back of the truck, almost snapped his neck, but he got greedy. He tried to chase down another mare who caught his attention, and while he was away the Phantom broke loose, and I'll say right now that local opinion was on the side of the horse. He asked me to track him, but there was no way I would've done that. I had too much respect for the Phantom to trace him when he was wounded. It would have been easy, and he was offering good money, but that in my mind would be dirty money, and I've never accepted dirty money in my life, and I have no intention of ever doing so if I can help it.

During the years that Sam was gone I made a new friend. Darrell was trouble, sometimes anyways, but when he wasn't being a jerk in trouble he was actually kind of fun. People wondered at first why my brothers and I hung with him, but I guess a major part of it had to do with the fact that he evened us out. We, especially me, all were just a little on the quiet side, and he wasn't, it was a win/win situation he got friends who weren't always helping him get into trouble, and we got some much-needed social support. It was pretty mush acknowledged that we Ely's weren't mush for talking, and I guess in some ways I was the worst of the bunch, but I never saw the point to talking when there's nothing to say, and sometimes not even then. Darrell was the one thing that kept me grounded throughout the guilt that I felt about the accident, because he was the one person who just acted like there was nothing wrong.

There were a few other changes that were made to my social circle, and those were the addition of the Slocum twins. They were your typical rich spoiled brat kids, and they kind of looked down on those of us who had to work. I guess I've never been one to take kindly to snobs, and they managed to push all of my buttons every time that I was around them. The boy, Ryan, I had only met once, and he seemed decent enough in a spoiled kid sort of way, but Rachel decided to stay with her dad, and she was trouble, Trouble with a capital T. She liked to lord it over on the rest of us, and even though she was attractive she more than made up for her looks with her viper like attitude. I couldn't help but be glad that since Sam was away she didn't have to deal with Rachel, because I never wanted her to be seen as anything but the amazing little girl that she was, my best friend.

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	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own Phantom Staillion. Thank you to all of those who have read and reviewed this story, your enthusiasm is rewarding, as have been your comments. Please keep me informed as to your thoughts on the next few chapters. THank you for your support. Feel free to ask questions if you have any, I will answer to the best of my ability.**

Today was finally the day, Wyatt had told me that today at some point during the day, Sam would be home. I couldn't wait, yeah, the guilt for ever having let her get hurt was still there, but so was the excitement that after two long years of waiting I would finally be able to look my friend in the face again. Finally, I would be able to make good upon the promise that I made to myself two years ago to protect her with my life from all and every harm that could come her way.

I deliberately stayed with the horses outside working with a young one I was training so that I would have one of the first glances of her that anyone got, but that was probably a mistake, because the horse required more of my concentration than I had thought, and I completely missed it when the truck pulled up to the ranch. I heard the ranch dog Blaze making a racket, and that spooked the horse that I was working, and I guess that I wasn't concentrating as much as I thought, because well… yep, you guessed it I got bucked. The first sight I got of Sam was when I looked up from where I was in the dirt, and I spied her face, it was not exactly as I had imagined out first meeting, and I guess I was kind of miffed. She said something smart mouthed, and her dad said that she had, "Just missed an excellent chance to have kept her mouth shut." I guess I was so caught up on the moment that I said the same type of insulting thing I would have said in the past. I said that she looked like a wet weasel, and that was the moment when the tornado of kindness that is Grace Forster came barging in, and I got my ass served to me on a platter. I guess I deserved it.

Then she popped out the question about meeting Ace, and I just couldn't believe it… Wyatt was going to let her ride Ace, the first horse that I had trained after the accident. He was letting her ride another horse that I had trained…. Was he stupid. I had messed up once, and I was afraid of what might happen if… but I refused to even think of that. So, I said what might have been the stupidest thing I have ever said, "You're putting her on Ace?" "What's wrong with that," she said. "He's smarter than you and I put together.", and that was the stupid part. I could see it, she took that as me challenging her ability, an she was going to do something stupid, I just knew it. She had always done something stupid after she thought that I thought she couldn't do it.

She got to ride Ace, and he tried every trick in the book. When she first put the saddle on him he took a deep breath, and when she went to get in the saddle well, it just didn't stay put. I guess she must've figured out not to trust the little bugger after that, but that didn't mean that I felt that this was a safe arrangement, but I guess I couldn't think of a better one. I mean, I would never feel secure in the fact that she was riding a horse that I had trained, but he was easily the most intelligent, and the most obedient horse in the remuda, at least once he was done trying to figure out who was in charge.

We went in to dinner, and that was when she figured out for the first time about the roundup. The way that she figured out about it was probably the worst possible way that something like that could have happened. She was talking about unpacking her bags now that she was home, and her Gram told her that she shouldn't unpack. I could see it written all over her face, she thought that we didn't want her back, that we were sending her back, as if we hadn't just spent the last two years waiting and hoping that she would come home and be alright. It was as if she didn't know that the ranch wasn't the same place without her there, as if she didn't know that she was as much a part of the ranch as it was a part of her. What had she gone through during those years that we had no part of, and what was she thinking that made her think that anything less than a life-threatening situation would force us to allow her to leave ever again.

I knew then that I would have a hard time convincing her that she really did fit in there, and that we didn't see her as the city slicker that she obviously saw herself as. It wasn't as if she was like Slocum trying to force her way into our lives, she was ranch borne and bred, and ranch in spirit and name. There was nothing that she could do to change the fact that she was one of us.

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